"This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold
copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle," Bezos wrote. "Our 'solution' to the
problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our
principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism
we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake
to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our
mission."

Bezos signed the missive, "with deep apology to our customers" and then his name and title.

Amazon was originally found to be deleting certain books from George Orwell off of its Web site, and by extension, off of customer Kindles. Amazon later claimed that the e-book vendor itself did not have rights to the book, and Amazon was within its terms of service to delete the books from the Kindles. But Amazon later apologized, saying it would not remotely delete e-books in case of a repeat incident.

In related Kindle news, analysts asked Amazon chief financial officer Thomas J. Szkutak about the possibility for an international Kindle launch during this week's earnings call. "In terms of Kindle international, it's certainly an opportunity," according to a transcript provided by SeekingAlpha.com. "Customers have certainly expressed an interest and we have a long-standing practice of not talking about what we might do, but certainly it's clearly an opportunity."